Post 1991, when Narsimha Rao’s government paved the way for liberalisation in the private sector, the market certainly shot up with more number of engineers and MBA graduates earning high salaries. An engineering degree with an MBA became the most sought career profile in the history of Indian education system. Now after 25 years, the hypothesis is failing.
Some facts about employment
- In 2015-16, percentage of MBA graduates placed were 51%, while for 2016-17, it dropped to less than 47% (AICTE report)
- If we exclude top 20 MBA colleges, only 7% students get placed through campus placements (ASSOCHAM report)
- For engineering graduates, 95% of them can’t code even post the completion of their degree. (Aspiring Minds report)
- Post completion of the engineering degree, just 5% of the engineers have skills for employment. (McKinsey report)
The crises could seem more dangerous for India than other developed or developing countries as the median age for India in 2017 is 28.6 years as compared to Japan with 47.9 years, USA with 38.9 years and China with 38.1 years. If the most sought careers of the students which share the maximum contribution in the median age for India has faced tremor, then one can simply imagine for other graduation/ post graduation coursed.
From the year 1983 to 2011, the unemployment rate has witnessed an average of 9%, while the year 2010 witnessed it close to as high as 9.4% (source: Wikipedia). Post the Modi government came to power in 2014, we have seen dramatic steps which again shocked the economy.
Now is the time when students should not follow the queue but find what type of work makes them happy and can evolve around to make it a mainstream monthly income. Already, we have seen our students facing such a huge pressure from competition and reservation due to the caste system, let’s hope the situation normalises in the years to come.